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编者按：

这些日子我越来越回想起父亲的话。我们需要他那样的信仰，我们祖先的信仰；我们需要一种信仰鞭策自己投身于比发展自身与积聚私产更重要的事业。只有具备这种信仰，我们才能在世界历史最关键的时期决定国家的命运。

My Father’s Evening Star
by William O. Douglas

During moments of sadness or frustration, I often think of a family scene years ago in the town of Yakima, Washington. I was about seven or eight years old at the time. Father had died a few years earlier. Mother was sitting in the living room talking to me, telling me what a wonderful man Father was. She told me of his last illness and death. She told me of his departure from Cleveland, Washington, to Portland, Oregon, for what proved to be a fatal operation. His last words to her were these: “If I die it will be glory, if I live it will be grace.”

I remember how those words puzzled me. I could not understand why it would be glory to die. It would be glory to live, that I could understand. But why it would be glory to die was something I did not understand until later.

Then one day in a moment of great crisis I came to understand the words of my father. “If I die it will be glory, if I live it will be grace.” That was his evening star. The faith in a power greater than man. That was the faith of our fathers. A belief in a God who controlled man in the universe, that manifested itself in different ways to different people. It was written by scholars and learned men in dozens of different creeds. But riding high above all secular controversies was a faith in One who was the Creator, the Giver of Life, the Omnipotent.

Man’s age-long effort has been to be free. Throughout time he has struggled against some form of tyranny that would enslave his mind or his body. So far in this century, three epidemics of it have been let loose in the world.

We can keep our freedom through the increasing crisis of history only if we are self-reliant enough to be free—dollars, guns, and all the wondrous products of science and the machine will not be enough. “This night thy soul shall be required of thee.”

These days I see graft and corruption reach high into government. These days I see people afraid to speak their minds because someone will think they are unorthodox and therefore disloyal. These days I see America identified more and more with material things, less and less with spiritual standards. These days I see America drifting from the Christian faith, acting abroad as an arrogant, selfish, greedy nation, interested only in guns and dollars, not in people and their hopes and aspirations.

These days the words of my father come back to me more and more. We need his faith, the faith of our fathers. We need a faith that dedicates us to something bigger and more important than ourselves or our possessions. Only if we have that faith will we be able to guide the destiny of nations, in this the most critical period of world history.

作者简介:

William O. Douglas was an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1939 to 1975. As a boy, he hiked the Cascade Mountains near his home in Washington to strengthen legs weakened by polio. His prolific career on the bench was marked by controversy and two attempts to impeach him.

参考译文

父亲的金星

威廉.奥维尔.道格拉斯

悲伤或受挫的时候，我常常想起几年前在华盛顿州亚基马城家中的一幕。那时我大约七八岁，父亲几年前去世了，母亲坐在客厅里向我描述父亲是多么了不起。她讲到他最后一次生病去世的情景，讲到他在离开华盛顿州的克利夫兰赶往俄勒冈州的波特兰做手术，正是这次手术要了他的命。临终前，父亲对母亲说：“我死了，是天国的荣耀；我活着，是上帝的恩惠。”我记得那些话曾让我多么困惑，因为我无法理解死亡为什么是一种荣耀。活着是一种荣耀倒还可以理解，但为什么死了会是一种荣耀，我直到后来才明白。

有一天在危急关头，我终于领悟了父亲的遗言。“我死了，是天国的荣耀；我活着，是上帝的恩惠。”那是他的金星，即信仰一种比人类更伟大的力量，这也是我们祖先的信仰，相信上帝主宰宇宙中的人类，并以各种方式向形形色色的人证实自身的存在。学者和有学问的人在各种信条中曾予以记载，而让人在一切世俗论战中获得成功的秘诀是相信上帝创造了世界和生命，是无所不能的神。

人类长久以来努力为自由而奋斗，不断与某种奴役其身心的独裁形式作斗争。半个世纪已经爆发了三次由独裁滋生的传染病。

只有当我们能自立，足以享有自由时，才能在历史上不断升级的危机中牢牢地把握自由——金钱、武器、科学和机器制造的所有令人叹为观止的产品都不足以保障我们的自由。“今夜必要你的灵魂。”

这些日子我目睹贪污腐败在政府机构甚嚣尘上；这些日子我看到人们害怕被视为信仰异端邪说、对上帝不忠而不敢坦言心声；这些日子我发觉美国越来越沉溺于物质享受，却越来越疏离于道德标准；这些日子我眼见美国偏离基督教的信仰，在海外的所作所为使其沦为一个傲慢、自私、贪婪、只对武器和金钱感兴趣的国家……而不关注国民及其希望与追求；这些日子我越来越回想起父亲的话。我们需要他那样的信仰，我们祖先的信仰；我们需要一种信仰鞭策自己投身于比发展自身与积聚私产更重要的事业。只有具备这种信仰，我们才能在世界历史最关键的时期决定国家的命运。

附注：

威廉·奥维尔·道格拉斯：毕业于惠特曼学院及哥伦比亚大学法学院，后来同在哥伦比亚大学和耶鲁大学教授法律，后为美国最高法院大法官。